Chemical reactions underpin the production of pretty much everything in our modern world. But, what is the driving force behind reactions? Why do some reactions occur over geological time scales whilst others are so fast that we need femtosecond-pulsed lasers to study them? Ultimately, what is going on at the atomic level? Discover the answers to such fundamental questions and more on this course in introductory physical chemistry.
The course covers the key concepts of three of the principal topics in first-year undergraduate physical chemistry: thermodynamics, kinetics and quantum mechanics. These three topics cover whether or not reactions occur, how fast they go and what is actually going on at the sub-atomic scale.

Taught By

Patrick J O'Malley, D.Sc

Reader

Michael W. Anderson, FRSC

Professor of Materials Chemistry

Jonathan Agger, MRSC

Lecturer and Deputy Director of Outreach

Transcript

[BLANK_AUDIO]. Hi there. Welcome back to the second week activities on quantum chemistry. This week we're going to focus on the solutions of the Schrรถdinger equation for hydrogenic atoms. We will learn that by imposing suitable boundary conditions you can obtain exact solutions of the Schrรถdinger equation for such systems. And as you will learn, the familiar S, P, and D type orbitals you have met in general chemistry courses arise from these solutions. You will see that these familiar orbitals are basically mathematical wave equations describing a radial or distance part, and an angular, or shape component. In addition we look at the energy levels and here we can relate the predicted energy levels to those observed spectroscopically. We'll show that the excellent prediction of the experiment spectra for the hydrogen atom represents compelling proof of the quantum mechanical model. This week you'll also have the opportunity to conduct a laboratory experiment to directly measure the spectrum of the hydrogen atom in the visible region. As last week, you'll have an opportunity to test your understanding of the material with some in-line quizzes, where you can again compare your performance with our students here at Manchester. Additionally, there's a short formatus quiz, as last week and there's also a summative quiz which you can take for assessment purposes. It's been really good to hear your views on the discussion forum so keep posting. Hope you have fun and I'll catch up with you to say goodbye at the end of the week. [BLANK_AUDIO]

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